The Lost Angel [BxB]

lalo

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my eyes and all is born again.

'Mad Girl's Love Song'
[Sylvia Plath]

♡ ♡ ♡

1: LALO

The sunny meadows were home to bumble bees snuggling between rose petals and little furry mice feasting on berries. And amidst this rural Spanish paradise of clear skies and warm air, an empty house was nestled between the lemon trees.

It was left to rot after years of abandonment. The beautiful white sculptures of faceless men and nude women were guarding an uninhabited mansion. Grand pillars were beginning to decay and crumble while the pretty pastel wallpaper peeled from the walls. Eleven bedrooms, two kitchens, big open spaces where dusty grand pianos had sat silently for years, waiting. Waiting for a melody, a tune, the soft voice of a Spanish aristocrat. Years had passed since the manor had heard music.

It was built in the late nineteenth century by wealthy landowners. When the entire family was found dead in their beds with stab wounds and blood soaked sheets just one year after construction had finished, the building, and the land that surrounded it, was passed onto the eldest son, who had been living in Madrid when the incident had occurred. He sold it for a heavy sum and comfortably lived out the rest of his days with a pretty French lady he had met on his travels. Soon enough, the colonial mansion was bought by another family, who sold it after five years, looking colder and darker than the day they bought it. They claimed that no one could ever truly own the house; it belonged to the spirits that lurked the halls and hid between the cracks in the walls.

The cycle continued. Those lured in by the beauty of the tall columns, spiralling staircases, the rustic stone well, land that stretched out for miles, bounteous gardens full of sprouting life. Those who had been deceived, tricked, reeled in like a sailor to a mermaid's deadly siren. They never lasted long in that house.

It had been empty now for twenty five years.

Thick layers of dust had collected on the glamorous marble surfaces of decadence. The shadows were darker and longer than ever, looming ominously across the dirty floor and cast against the mouldy wallpaper.

But it was the garden that really reflected the house's grim history. It was a garden of death. Dry grass, dead leaves, overgrown thorns and brambles, old topiary hedges, once the symbol of pride, overgrown into twisted hunchbacked monsters.

There was one place that still bloomed with the lively growth of untrimmed grass and bright flowers. Behind the house, on the edge of the grounds, four gravestones basked in the warm glow of the sun. It was the original owners — the family who had died in their sleep at the end of the nineteenth century. They were buried on site, in the house that killed them. Two parents, a daughter who was set to be married, and a baby who had lived for just a year on treacherous planet earth. Some residents claimed that the family haunted the house. The young children who had lived there all had one thing in common; they swore that they could hear the sound of a baby crying late at night.

After twenty five years of silence, the house was welcoming new owners. It was bought by a rich British couple with a grown up son fresh out of university. For such a gorgeous property, miles away from civilisation in rural Spain, the price was severely reduced (considering the house's disturbing past). However, before the Tucker family left behind their busy life in London, they needed to make a few arrangements to ensure their comfort upon arriving at their new summer home.

The architecture was intact, so no major renovations were necessary. The mansion needed a deep clean and that was all. It was the garden that was the family's biggest concern. Everything was overgrown, infected with weeds, brambles, and a lack of attention. It needed care, someone to look after the plants and flowers and support the process of regrowth. The Tuckers hoped that by the time they moved in, they would have acres of beautiful land to enjoy.